Biography of Hon. Truman Clark White

NAVAGATION

HON. TRUMAN CLARK WHITE, Supreme Court Justice, is the son of the late Daniel Delevan White and Alma Wilber,
and was born in Perrysburg, N. Y., April 30, 1840. He is a lineal descendant of Elder John White, who came from
England and settled in Cambridge, Mass., in 1632, and was a member of Thomas Hooker’s congregation. His maternal
ancestor, George Wilber, located near Danby, Vt., early in the eighteenth century. His grandparents, Truman White
and Stephen Wilber, settled in Erie county in 1810.

Judge White received his preliminary education in the public and “select” schools and taught school two winters
at Langford, Erie county. During a part of the years 1859 and 1860 he also attended Springville Academy. In September,
1861, he enlisted as a private in Company D, 10th N. Y. Vol. Cay., was promoted to quartermastersergeant of his
company August 5, 1862, and first or orderly sergeant March 4, 1863; in January, 1864, he re-enlisted, and on February
9th of the same year, was commissioned first lieutenant. He was mustered out at Syracuse, N. Y., after a faithful
and meritorious service of nearly four years, in July, 1865. While in the army Judge White improved his leisure
in reading Blackstone, Kent, and other elementary works on law, and after spending a few months in the Pennsylvania
oil regions on his discharge from the service, began, in January, 1866, the study of law in the office of Judge
Stephen Lockwood, in Buffalo. Soon afterward he became a law student and managing clerk in the office of Edward
Stevens, and in November, 1867, he was admitted to the bar. He then opened an office for the practice of his profession
in Buffalo, but had scarcely settled himself before he formed a copartnership with Mr. Stevens which continued
until the latter’s death in August, 1868. Afterward he was associated with George Wadsworth, Nelson K. Hopkins,
and Seward A. Simons.

In politics Judge White has always been a staunch Republican. In 1885 he was nominated for the office of Judge
of the Superior Court of Buffalo, and although he received the support of men of both parties he failed of election
by fifty-seven votes in a total of 33,000. He was renominated in 1891 and elected by a majority of over 400. With
one exception Judge White was the only candidate on the Republican city ticket elected that year, a Democratic
mayor having been elected by over 4,500 majority, and all the other candidates on the Democratic ticket by large
majorities. He served as judge of the Superior Court of Buffalo until January 1, 1896, when, under the new State
constitution, the Superior Court was abolished, and he, with the other judges of Superior city courts, took his
seat on the bench of the Supreme Court. As a lawyer and jurist Judge White has achieved eminence and is highly
respected for his ability, honesty, and integrity, and his knowledge of the law. - He was married on the 10th of
February, 1869, to Miss Emma Kate Haskins, daughter of the late Roswell W. Haskins, of Buffalo.

Source:
Our County and its people
A descriptive work on Erie County, New York
Edited by: Truman C. White
The Boston History Company, Publishes 1898